I actually have a whole rambling essay written about how this Stephen turns all the usual ideas about the character inside out. Not only with the self-awareness, and the fact that his anger comes from a place of trying to be who he is rather than trying to hide it, but also in the way he interacts with Jon. For once, he's a genuine authority on something, and Jon can't go too far in advising him how to deal with it.

(Not sure if fknwsgenderswap is open to meta posts, or if I should just post it in andthatstheword and offer up the link in an Open Thread.)

In my head this Stephen has a more fluid sexuality in the first place, but it does kind of take a back seat to the trans issues. He thought of himself as female (albeit a female with something deeply wrong going on) for long enough that he got to spend some time exploring a comfortable and socially encouraged attraction to men, which undercut his ability to be paranoid and repressed about it later on. He keeps his relationship with Jon a secret, but that's more about appearances than an internal sense of shame.

Glad you liked it, and that you did come back to respond ♥